Chicago has long had a prominent downtown street named for Italian fascist Italo Balbo — but an honorary plaza named for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is an insult that goes too far, a group of aldermen say.
So at a City Council meeting Wednesday, Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, introduced an ordinance that would strip Trump's name from the small plaza in front of his River North hotel on Wabash Avenue.
The move would punish Trump for "painting a distorted caricature of Chicago" on the campaign trail and for "comparing our great city to a decimated, war-torn country," said Reilly, in whose ward the Trump Tower stands.
He was backed by eight other aldermen who agreed with Reilly's statement that "honorary street signs are meant to honor special Chicagoans who've made a positive contribution to our city."
The proposed ordinance also states that Trump has run a "hateful, racist campaign against immigrants and minorities," and accuses him of a "complete disregard for civil liberties dating back to the 1970s."
It could take about a month to be enacted, Reilly said, adding that "there are millions of people who live and work here who are very proud of our city, and given his actions in recent months, he doesn't warrant an honorary street sign."
Trump's comments about Chicago in the first presidential debate (in which he called for stop-and-frisk tactics to be used here to combat gun violence) were "the final straw," added Reilly, who said he would send back campaign contributions he previously received from Trump "with his honorary street sign."
